The Pagemaster is a 1994 film that features both Live Action and Animation, one of only two made by Turner Entertainment's animation unit before Warner Bros. took over (Cats Don't Dance was the other).

Richard Tyler (Macaulay Culkin) is a young boy who is — much to his parentsí annoyance — timid to the point of neurosis. He is tremendously afraid of heights and generally obsessed with quoting the statistical risks involved in countless everyday actions, which, of course, explains why he isn't the most popular guy. One day his father runs out of nails while building him a tree house and sends a very reluctant Richard to buy more.

On his way to the hardware store, a storm suddenly breaks out, and Richard seeks shelter in a huge and luxurious but rather sinister library. The only person there is its extremely enthusiastic and slightly creepy librarian (played by Christopher Lloyd), who is disappointed that Richard merely sought shelter from the storm and isn't looking for books, but affably points him towards the public telephone so he can contact his parents. While wandering deeper into the library in search of the phone, Richard enters a magnificent rotunda painted with gigantic scenes from classic novels which surround the image of a blue-robed wizard holding a scroll.

The paint descends on Richard, transforming him and the library into an animated world of illustrations where the mystical wizard, the eponymous Pagemaster (voiced by Lloyd), tells him that in order to get home, the boy must face three challenges: The lands of Horror, Adventure and Fantasy. He is assisted by three books which personify those genres (colourfully voiced by Frank Welker, Patrick Stewart and Whoopi Goldberg respectively). Along the way we see references to many classic books such as Treasure Island and The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, along with a goodly heaping of puns, while Richard learns to confront his fears and to lead a life of bravery.

The film is notable for featuring great literary figures... without explaining why they were great. It suffered from a lack of success, but earned a small cult following through strong home video sales. It also had tie-in video games, with a PC adventure game and Sega Genesis, SNES, and Game Boy platform games.

This film provides examples of:

Action Girl: When the situation calls for it, like in the Long John Silver section, Fantasy can be one very dangerous book.

Adaptational Villainy: While he's nice enough in the movie, the PC game's version of Dr. Jekyll has him collaborating with Hyde to rule the world.

Advertising by Association: Some of the trailers for the film said "From the creator of An American Tail" at the beginning. This was possibly done to mislead people into thinking it was a Don Bluth film, which it wasn't; David Kirschner produced both films.

And Your Little Dog, Too!: The dragon deliberately goes after Richard's only friends, the books, first. This forces him to try and stand up to his fears.

Animation Lead Time: There were trailers coming out for this movie FOUR YEARS before it was released!

The Assimilator: The dragon shape-shifts into a monstrous painting abomination that absorbs Richard into the worlds of Horror, Adventure and Fantasy. Changing him into an illustration, just so it can devour him later.

Everything Trying to Kill You: In the beginning of the movie, Richard has one of the most death-defying bike rides ever, encountering heavy rain, harsh winds, exploding street lamps and falling trees. Of course the scene is from his point of view, meaning it all seems terrifying to him. Played straighter when he enters the Library, where everything is trying to kill him.

Evil Laugh: Mr Hyde, the deranged psycho version of Dr. Jekyll. He laughs maniacally even when he falls to his doom.

Eyepatch of Power: Adventure looks like a pirate, complete with eyepatch. There's nothing wrong with the eye under it - so when he needs to get a better look at something he just lifts it up.

False Crucible: Richard learns that everything he went through was a test to get him to face his fears.

Fantasy Helmet Enforcement: Inverted. When Richard first sets off on his bike he has a ludicrous amount of safety gear, but loses it by the end of the film as another nod to his character development of growing past his neuroses.

Genre Blindness: As the characters approach a frightening mansion in the Horror section, Fantasy reads the names of the residents: "Dr. Jekyll...Mr. Hyde...(Beat)...Must be a duplex." Then again, It's not Fantasy's genre, so OF COURSE she wouldn't realize the rules of a horror story.

Hypocritical Humor: After his dad is hit on the head with a bucket and falls from the treehouse, Richie says "Can't argue with statistics, Dad!" despite him being the one that set the accident in motion.

Kids Are Cruel: The other kids in Richard's neighborhood who make fun of him for his cowardice when he sets out on his bike to buy nails at the hardware store.

Kill It Through Its Stomach: Averted. After Richard is eaten by a dragon, he makes a beanstalk appear by opening a book entitled Jack and the Beanstalk that was also inside the dragon's stomach, and uses it to escape. The implacable fiery beast does not die however.

George Hearn as Ahab, which isn't a surprise when one remembers his other roles. He is only on-screen for few minutes, but surely everyone remembers him. Considering how OTT Ahab got when even thinking about Moby-Dick, this characterization isn't too far off.

Logical Fallacies: "8% of all household accidents involve ladders. Another 3% involve trees. We're looking at 11% probability here". First, he's ignoring some overlap between the 8% and the 3%. Secondly he's assuming that an accident will happen, in which case the probability that it involves ladders is 8%, but that doesn't tell us anything about the chances that this specific ladder-climbing event will lead to an accident. What he needs is a statistic in the form of "X% of the time somebody climbs a ladder, they have an accident" rather than "X% of all accidents involve ladders." Justified Trope given Richard's age (he can't be any older than junior-high age). Just because he knows statistics doesn't mean he understands how to calculate probability.

Never Trust a Trailer / Covers Always Lie: That sword? The live-action Richard doesn't get it. The animated one does, for a brief time. The cover pictured on this page also features a Frankenstein Monster and a Ghost you never get to meet at all in the movie, and the Pagemaster himself's color schemes is strangely altered.

Oh Crap!: Adventure gets one of these, when he realizes that the dragon was right behind him.

Earlier in the film, Richard & Co. get a collective one when they see Moby-Dick rising up at them.

Omniscient Morality License : The eponymous Pagemaster takes a cowardly child and subjects him to all sorts of deadly situations. To all appearances, there was a real chance that the kid would either die or develop severe mental trauma as a result of this. But instead he learns to be courageous, and the Pagemaster gets off the hook because apparently he's just so darn wise that he knew it would work out like this from the beginning.

Pirate: Adventure acts like one, and then they meet real ones (Long John Silver's crew).

Poison Is Corrosive: Dr. Jekyll offers Richard a bright green beverage which, when knocked out of his hand, dissolves through the wooden floorboards in a matter of seconds. Moments later, the liquid is revealed to be the potion that turns Dr. Jekyll into Mr. Hyde.

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